Welcome to 2022. If you’re here, congratulations, thanks and good luck. The future rolls forward with us, over us. If we’re lucky, good music does the same.

The poll ran a little shorter than in 2020, when it started after Thanksgiving, and it ended a day or two sooner as well, but no matter. There were still 374 lists contributed and 1,687 separate album listings. Invariably that includes duplicates, but still, quite a number for a year at least half of which was thrown down a well of plague, canceled tours and pressing delays. Thank you to everybody who added a list or a pick or two picks or 10 or anything. You made my year, I shit you not.

As ever, two polls were posted. Raw votes and points. For reference, here are the same rules that I’ve been cut and pasting for however long: You submit your list of up to 20 favorites. Anything from the start of 2020 to the finish is eligible. There are two lists, one of the raw votes, and one in which a 1-4 ranking is worth five points, 5-8 worth four, 9-12 worth three, 13-16 worth two and 17-20 worth one.

That’s how the magic happens. Here’s the magic:

Top 20 of 2021 — Weighted Results

1. King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (542 points)
2. Monolord, Your Time to Shine (360)
3. Green Lung, Black Harvest (349)
4. Greenleaf, Echoes From a Mass (335)
5. King Buffalo, Acheron (318)
6. Domkraft, Seeds (269)
7. Mastodon, Hushed & Grim (235)
8. The Age of Truth, Resolute (218)
9. Kal-El, Dark Majesty (204)
10. High Desert Queen, Secrets of the Black Moon (199)
11. Kadavar & Elder, Eldovar: A Story of Darkness and Light (167)
12. Delving, Hirschbrunnen (160)
13. Thunder Horse, Chosen One (158)
14. Stöner, Stoners Rule (154)
15. Maha Sohona, Endless Searcher (137)
16. Hippie Death Cult, Circle of Days (124)
17. Jakethehawk, Hinterlands (121)
18. Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows, The Magnetic Ridge (117)
19. Spelljammer, Abyssal Trip (114)
20. Red Fang, Arrows (108)

Honorable Mention:
DVNE, Etemen Ænka (107)
Khemmis, Deceiver (106)
Alastor, Onwards & Downwards (104)
Heavy Temple, Lupi Amoris (104)
Plaindrifer, Echo Therapy (100)
Acid Mammoth, Caravan (97)
Blackwater Holylight, Silence/Motion (97)

Notes:

There were more in the 90s, but Acid Mammoth and Blackwater Holylight were the highest I could find and I figured that was enough. Good list. Some results here show bands campaigning, others not so much, but I’d see this list somewhere and nod agreement, so I’m not gonna fight it. In any case, the one-two seems pretty much undeniable, though the race between King Buffalo and Monolord was closer than these numbers make it appear. It wasn’t until the last week or two that The Burden of Restlessness really pulled ahead. My own list was much the same in terms of placement. For a minute there, I thought Green Lung was going to sneak into the number two spot as well.

I have to think Kadavar & Elder, Weedpecker (who were in the 80s, I think) and pretty much everything that came out last month other than King Buffalo’s Acheron was somewhat hurt by arriving late, but on the other hand I’m not going to delude myself into thinking release dates are or should be scheduled around Obelisk polls. Still, I’d have put a few of those higher, but then, there’s only so much room, isn’t there?

Top 20 of 2021 — Raw Votes

1. King Buffalo, The Burden of Restlessness (126 votes)
2. Monolord, Your Time to Shine (98)
3. Green Lung, Black Harvest (93)
4. Greenleaf, Echoes From a Mass (86)
5. King Buffalo, Acheron (78)
6. Domkraft, Seeds (71)
7. Mastodon, Hushed & Grim (57)
8. Kal-El, Dark Majesty (56)
9. The Age of Truth, Resolute (54)
10. Kadavar & Elder, Eldovar: A Story of Darkness and Light (50)
11. Stöner, Stoners Rule (44)
12. Delving, Hirschbrunnen (43)
13. Hippie Death Cult, Circle of Days (39)
13. Thunder Horse, Chosen One (39)
14. Maha Sohona, Endless Searcher (37)
14. Spelljammer, Abyssal Trip (37)
15. Jack Harlon & the Dead Crows, The Magnetic Ridge (36)
15. Red Fang, Arrows (35)
16. Jakethehawk, Hinterlands (34)
17. Acid Mammoth, Caravan (32)
17. Heavy Temple, Lupi Amoris (32)
18. Khemmis, Deceiver (31)
19. Blackwater Holylight, Silence/Motion (30)
19. Weedpecker, IV: The Stream of Forgotten Thoughts (30)
20. Alastor, Onwards & Downwards (28)

Notes:

A couple ties here so I’m nixing honorable mentions — I’m fairly certain you get the point anyway. Everything else had fewer than 28 votes, but if you want to correct me on that and go through all the lists, please know you’re welcome. As always, some discrepancies between the point system and the raw votes, but even the top three were locked in, and if you want to switch Greenleaf and King Buffalo’s Acheron on a given day depending on your mood, well, I can relate to that too. Glad to see stuff like Acid Mammoth and Hippie Death Cult do well here, ditto that Kal-El and the Delving record. It was a good year. I’m not sorry it’s over, but that doesn’t make the music and less killer.

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All the lists submitted will follow the ‘Read More’ tag below. There are plenty of them, so dig in as you will. Thank you to everybody who submitted, to the people who shared the link, even to the bands out there hustling to get people to add them as picks. I think that’s a perfectly valid way to go. In any case, your ongoing support is very much appreciated. Thank you, about 374 times over.

And a final thank you to The Patient Mrs. and to Slevin, the former of whom indulges me daily with time to work on this site and the latter of whom I bug for shit all the time and usually feel pretty terrible about it. Both of them, suffice it to say, have better things to do, so thank you.

Lists follow. My heart goes out to whoever listed their name as three poop emojis.

Read more »

I have been looking forward to this for months. I always do, but I’m extra curious to get a look at everybody’s favorite picks from 2021, and I feel like it might be close when it comes to how the final list shakes out. There’s been so much creative ground being broken, it’s awe-inspiring and humbling at once.

To that point, yes, there are still some really good records to come in the next couple weeks. I know. This post will be here until Dec. 31. If you’re holding a spot for something, that’s fine. But I want to give people as much of a chance as possible to add their favorites to the poll, and that means posting this sooner. If I waited until Dec. 31, it would be silly, and by January, everybody’s head is tired of lists, my own included. So just trust me. I’ve done this before.

Maximum participation is encouraged and appreciated. Thank you.

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Thanks for being part of this. Please share the link if you can.

Same rules as always: Anything from Jan. 2021 to whatever’s coming out between now and Dec. 31 is eligible. If something is out digitally now and physical later and you want to include it, do so. Two lists are tabulated; one of the raw votes, and one in which a 1-4 ranking is worth five points, 5-8 worth four, 9-12 worth three, 13-16 worth two and 17-20 worth one.

Poll runs until Dec. 31, 2021. Results go up Jan. 1, 2022, along with all the individual lists. I am not kidding when I say this is my favorite post of the year. It will be on the top of the front-page for the next month.

As ever, the Year-End Poll would not be possible without the diligent and respected efforts of Slevin behind-the-scenes. Every year like clockwork I bug him with an email or a text about the poll — and I’ll do so again when it’s time to do the final tally — and he’s never yet told me to screw off, which it only feels like he’d be increasingly within his rights to do. Thanks dude. You’re amazing.

And thank you one more time as well. Let’s have some fun. We’ve all earned it.